Serial Productions & The New York Times
138 episodes listed below
Masha Gessen narrates her own cousin's murder-for-hire arrest and custody battle.
Serial is narrative nonfiction built around long, closely reported stories where the facts arrive through scenes, documents, and uneasy interviews. Recent chapters move from a cousin accused in a murder-for-hire plot to families challenging medical child-abuse allegations.
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Serial is an anthology-style narrative nonfiction podcast from Serial Productions, produced in partnership with The New York Times. Rather than a single recurring host, each season is reported, written, and narrated by a different journalist telling one real story over multiple serialized chapters rather than as a single feature. In the sampled 'The Idiot' season, journalist Masha Gessen narrates her own cousin Alan Gessen's arrest for a murder-for-hire plot against his ex-wife Priscilla, working backward through a Hague Convention custody dispute, an international child abduction spanning Zimbabwe, Russia, and Canada, and a family history rooted in Soviet-era emigration to the United States. In the sampled 'The Good Whale' season, writer and host Daniel Alarcon follows the orca Keiko, made famous by 'Free Willy,' through his rehabilitation at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and eventual release, drawing on interviews with trainers, aquarium staff, and animal welfare figures. Episodes run roughly 20 to 65 minutes and are constructed from court transcripts, family interviews, archival audio, and on-the-ground reporting rather than in-studio interviews or panel discussion. Recurring themes across seasons include family secrecy and loyalty under legal pressure, courtroom and sentencing proceedings, international and cross-border legal disputes, and the long-tail consequences of a single dramatic event on the people (or animals) involved. Production credits recur across seasons, including editors Julie Snyder, Ira Glass, and Sarah Koenig and producers such as Daniel Guillemette, reflecting continuity with the team behind the original Serial. The show suits listeners who want long-form, reported nonfiction storytelling paced like a novel rather than daily news updates, celebrity interviews, or roundtable discussion. Sponsor reads (for example, for The Athletic) are brief and separate from the narrative content. Listeners who follow investigative journalism, true crime, or documentary-style serialized storytelling will find the format familiar, even as the subject changes season to season.
Made for: Listeners who want long-form, reported narrative journalism and true-crime storytelling told over serialized chapters rather than single-episode news segments.
What sets it apart: Unlike fixed-host true-crime or interview shows, Serial rotates a different journalist-narrator and standalone investigated story each season, backed by New York Times reporting resources.
Our newest podcast, “The Preventionist” is out now. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts. Serial Productions makes narrative podcasts that have transformed the medium. Sign up for our newsletter at nytimes.com/serialnewsletter to find out about new shows, get behind the scenes stories, and see photos and videos you can’t see on a podcast. To get full access to Serial Productions shows, and to other New York Times podcasts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, subscribe at nytimes.com/podcasts. Have a story pitch, a tip, or feedback on our shows? Email us at [email protected] "Serial...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Serial shows how harm and care take shape inside families, institutions and human relationships with animals.
Serial makes difficult questions of harm legible by staying close to the people living through them. The chapters of "The Idiot" trace a family's rupture through coercive control, child custody, a murder-for-hire case and the long management of its consequences.
One minute you're judging a murder-for-hire plot; the next, you're invested in Keiko's television habits.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A family rupture becomes a tense account of loyalty, custody, immigration, and one quiet act of help.
The Idiot opens as a family story that has stretched across migration, marriage, grudges, forgiveness, and new attachments, until Alan's actions involving his son O make that elasticity give way.
A restrained family-side chapter about prison, denial, and a self-published book that leaves a child with more than he can sort through.
Chapter 5 of The Idiot stays close to the family damage around Alan's imprisonment: the birthday gathering, the prison email, the self-published book, and the way one sentence on a back cover lands with a 12-year-old.
A measured chapter about Alan, contrition, ambition, and the hunger to be needed.
Serial's The Idiot - Chapter 4 catches Alan in a moment where remorse, self-explanation, and performance are hard to separate. It opens with his apology to Priscilla and his children, his voice breaking as he tells the judge that losing access to them has already become its own…
A tense, personal chapter about separation, control, and the exhausting fight to get a child back.
Serial's "The Idiot - Chapter 2" opens with the shock of Alan Gessen's arrest after a woman is told he hired someone to kill her, then narrows in on Priscilla's account of what happened after she left him.
Keiko's Oregon arrival becomes a restrained story about care, celebrity, and the town that gathered around him.
The Good Whale - Ep. 2 tracks Keiko's arrival at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a small Newport facility that suddenly found itself housing a movie-famous killer whale.
Ashley Flowers and Britt Prawat revisit unsolved murders and cold cases as new evidence surfaces.
Multi-part true crime narration, from BTK's Wichita letters to Australian cold-case disappearances.
On May 1st, 2023, the narrator goes to the federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco for the trial of his cousin Alan, who is accused of hiring someone to kill his ex-wife, Priscilla.
Priscilla hears the impossible in a blunt, almost ordinary way.
The family bends for years, then breaks.
The party is ordinary, until it isn't.
Alan sounds contrite.
This trailer introduces 'The Idiot,' a podcast series hosted by M.
This episode investigates the controversy surrounding pediatrician Dr.
A mother recounts the terrifying experience of her two-month-old son choking on milk and how an anti-choking device saved his life, only to face an unexpected diagnosis at the hospital.
This episode discusses lawsuits against Lehigh Valley Health Network and Dr.
A mother recounts her infant son being wrongly diagnosed as a shaken baby, leading to his removal from the family for seven months.
This episode of The Retrievals explores the aftermath of Clara's C-section, introducing new developments and characters in a medical drama format.
This episode of The Retrievals explores a patient's traumatic experience with pain during a medical procedure, leading to anger and regret.
A narrative crime documentary series that begins with a scene-setting description of a nurse's morning routine, hinting at an unfolding investigation.
An investigation into the practice of performing C-sections without adequate anesthesia and the resulting trauma for patients.
Sarah Koenig introduces the second season of The Retrievals, a medical drama podcast inspired by TV shows like ER, and plays its trailer.
This episode explores the ethical dilemma of Keiko the orca's rehabilitation, contrasting the view that animals instinctively know their place in the wild with the perspective that human intervention is necessary due to his long captivity.
A narrative documentary series exploring the life and mysterious journey of Keiko, the orca from Free Willy.
A 13-year-old boy named Howard Nessig encounters the famous killer whale Keiko while at his family's seaside cabin in Norway in 2002.
This episode recounts the 1964 capture and captivity of the first live orca, exploring the historical perception of killer whales as monsters and the cruel circumstances of its death.
Keiko arrived in the Oregon rain.
The episode tells the story of Keiko the orca, from his capture to life in captivity, highlighting the emotional impact of separation from his mother.
The episode examines the story of Keiko the orca, star of Free Willy, and the controversial effort to rehabilitate and release him into the wild.
A podcast episode that begins with a word game promotion and then delves into a story about a child's arrest in Rutherford County, Tennessee.
The episode introduces a lawyer with a past addiction who finds work in juvenile court, setting up a story about arrests at a school.
Two attorneys celebrate getting a teenager out of solitary confinement and plan to start a private practice to escape low-paying juvenile court work.
A legal team prepares for a trial against Rutherford County for illegally detaining children, gathering evidence and expert testimony.
A podcast episode investigating a fentanyl theft at a medical clinic and its impact on patients.
A woman shares her experience with IVF, including the emotional challenges and dismissive comments from healthcare providers after a successful pregnancy.
This episode investigates a medical clinic associated with Yale, exploring patient experiences and potential issues.
A woman shares her unexpected journey to a fertility clinic after years of saying she didn't want children, exploring cultural expectations and the power of words.
A nurse's fentanyl addiction at work and home, intertwined with her family's legal and personal struggles.
The host introduces a new word game and then begins a story about her teenage years in Laramie, Wyoming, a town marked by violence and tragedy.
This episode continues the investigation into the murder of Shelly, featuring interviews and evidence from the case.
This episode investigates a decades-old murder case in Laramie, focusing on new evidence and police interviews with a suspect's wife.
The episode features an interview with a suspect in a decades-old cold case homicide in Laramie.